The world’s financial leaders failed to reach a compromise deal to endorse free trade on Saturday, backtracking on past commitments to keep trade open and reject protectionism, the communique of G-20 finance ministers and central bankers showed.
Making only a token reference for the need to strengthen the contribution of trade to the economy, finance ministers and central bank chiefs of the world’s top 20 economies broke with a decade-old tradition of rejecting protectionism and endorsing open trade.
In the new U.S. administration’s biggest clash yet with the international community, G20 finance chiefs also walked back on a pledge to support climate change finance, an anticipated outcome after U.S President Donald Trump called climate change a “hoax”.
Speaking on the sidelines of the meeting, delegates said that the U.S. was holding out on key issues, unwilling to compromise and essentially torpedoing a deal as it requires all members to sign up. Trump has already pulled out of a key trade agreement and proposed a
new tax on imports arguing that certain trade relationships need to be
reworked to make them fairer for U.S. workers.
G-20 financial leaders, however, reaffirmed their a commitment to refrain from competitive currency devaluation, a key agreement as the U.S. has repeatedly complained that some of its trade partners are using artificially devalued currencies to gain a trade advantage.